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I haven't thought about this much before, but I think it must be a myth. Going from the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_IBM https://en.wikipedia.org/wi
by ecshafer 2y ago
I haven't thought about this much before, but I think it must be a myth. Going from the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_IBM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_IBM wiki on the history of Wikipedia, there were "Computing machines" in the 30s referring to their calculators and tabulating machines. IBM was already selling more than 5 of these devices, so if the 1943 date was true, it makes no sense. So it referring to a single machine having a market of 5 devices, that might be true.
- potato3732842 2y agoYeah, there were so many specialist analog computing machines out there in the 1940s and earlier that the pop culture interpretation of the quote as being "for all digital computers of all types the world over" just doesn't pass the sniff test.
- veqq 2y agoIn the 60s, you'd have offices with thousands of such machines: https://aurorasginjoint.com/2017/08/19/a-look-at-billy-wilders-the-apartment-office-wise/ https://aurorasginjoint.com/2017/08/19/a-look-at-billy-wilde... (in the movie, he mentions 30k employees on all the floors). On this floor, I believe they're mechanical calculators with extra functions (unsure what).
- mixmastamyk 2y agoThere were already more than five electro-mechanical computers built by the end of WWII. And several electronic ones, shortly after that. So the paraphrase is indeed nonsense.